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DIURNAL BIRDS OF PREY 
of March, are commonly two in number, although there may be three. In size, 
colour, and texture specimens differ much; but they are generally chalky, and vary 
from pure greyish or reddish white, with a few specks at one end, to a uniform 
dingy blood-red hue. The Egyptian vulture, or “ Pharaoh’s chicken,” is well 
represented on the ancient sculptures of the country from which it takes its name, 
and is the bird alluded to in Leviticus under the name of Geier-eagle. On account 
of its value as a scavenger, it is still protected in Egypt, as it is in some other 
pileated vulture (£ nat. size). 
parts of Africa. In the Nile Valley its usual breeding-places are the tall mud-cliffs 
bordering; the river. 
© 
Pileated Vulture. 
A very different-looking bird to the foregoing is the African 
pileated vulture {N. pileatus), in which the general colour of the 
plumage is chocolate-brown, with the quills and tail black; the naked portion of 
the head and neck being of a purple hue during life. In the typical South African 
form the total length of the bird is some 26 inches, 
but in North-Eastern and 
